Communicated by S. Wiedenbeck Along with increasing investments in new technologies, user technology acceptance becomes a frequently studied topic in the information systems discipline. The last two decades have seen user acceptance models being proposed, tested, refined, extended and unified. These models have contributed to our understanding of user technology acceptance factors and their relationships. Yet they have also presented two limitations: the relatively low explanatory power and inconsistent influences of the factors across studies. Several researchers have recently started to examine the potential moderating effects that may overcome these limitations. However, studies in this direction are far from being conclusive. This study attempts to provide a systematic analysis of the explanatory and situational limitations of existing technology acceptance studies. Ten moderating factors are identified and categorized into three groups: organizational factors, technological factors and individual factors. An integrative model is subsequently established, followed by corresponding propositions pertaining to the moderating factors.

Users aren’t always rational logical beings— emotion plays an often overlooked role in user acceptance of technology. Affect, a term that encompasses mood, emotions, and feelings, is a fundamental aspect of human beings, one that influences reflex, perception, cognition, and behavior [5, 6]. Studies in organizational behavior, marketing, and management have confirmed the strong impact of affect on job satisfaction, decision-making behavior, and consumer shopping behavior. Affective quality is the ability of an object or stimulus to cause changes in one’s affect. Limited empirical evidence in human-computer interaction and information systems research suggests that perceived affective or hedonic quality of an interface has a positive impact on users ’ perceived usability of the system [8–10]. Essentially, pleasing things work better, are more regularly used, are easier to learn, influence future purchase choices, and produce a more harmonious result. Thus affect and emotion have an important place in design; usability and aesthetics are both instrumental in creating pleasurable electronic products [5]. COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM September 2005/Vol. 48, No. 9 105Empirical evidence is scarce on whether perceived affective quality of a system influences user perceptions of usefulness and ease of use of the system. This evidence can be extremely important for a better understanding of the causal sources of user’s ITrelated behavior. Perceived usefulness (PU) is the degree to which a person believes using a particular system enhances his or her job performance [1]. Perceived ease of use (PEOU) is the extent to which a person believes using a particular system is free of effort [1]. Abundant empirical studies in user technology acceptance literature show that PU and PEOU predict a user’s acceptance and actual usage of a system. Thus, knowing the determinants of these predictors can have strong implications for IT designers, trainers,

Even though the literature on the adoption and use of mobile services is quite extensive, surprisingly few studies are found applying traditional models of ICT adoption such as the technology acceptance model. This suggests different perspectives are applied in studies of mobile ICT adoption and traditional ICT adoption. With the introduction of 3G services, a convergence of mobile services and traditional Internet services is expected. Thus, traditional models of ICT adoption may be applied improving our understanding of the adoption of these services. However, studies of the use and adoption of mobile services indicate that traditional adoption models need to be extended and modified when applied to mobile services. In this study, we apply a modified version of the decomposed theory of planned behavior to the adoption behavior of early adopters of mobile commerce services. The study shows that the extended and modified model has good fit to the early adopter data, and that it explains 49 percent of the early adopters' intentions to use mobile commerce services. The model may be used as a basis for industry players' evaluation of the adoption potential of new mobile services.

This study applies recent findings in the intrinsic motivation and computer self-efficacy research to Technology Acceptance Model in order to predict the use of web-based information systems. One hundred nine subjects participated in the study, which was conducted in a field setting with Blackboard system, a web-based class management system. A survey was administered at the beginning of the study and the actual use of the system was captured by the Blackboard system over eight weeks. The results largely support the proposed model, highlighting the important roles of perceived enjoyment, learning goal orientation, and self-efficacy in determining the actual use of the system.

This research examines the impact of primitive affective reactions to information technology on subsequent cognitive reactions and behavioral intention on IT use, and the potential change of such impact over time. We ground our work in theories of psychology and information systems and propose a theoretical model in which the user’s perceptions regarding the affective quality of an IT influences cognitive reactions and behavioral intention to use IT. The model was validated by surveys in two field studies of 226 and 196 college students, respectively, who were asked to evaluate a course management system, WebCT. The first study occurred during weeks 3 and 4 of the spring 2004 semester, when subjects were getting familiar with WebCT for their classes. The second study ran during weeks 11 and 12 of the same semester, when WebCT had been used quite intensively in the classes. The theoretical model is supported by both studies, indicating that the impact of perceived affective quality persists, even when subjects ’ familiarity with and use of the IT increases. Our research identifies perceived affective quality as another, more-fundamental, and sustained source of user intention of IT use that has not been widely recognized yet. From a theoretical perspective, this research breaks the conventional cognition-driven paradigm of studying user reactions to technology and calls for attention to affect and emotion in examining people’s everyday, normal interactions with IT. Practically, the research provides empirical evidence for IT designers, trainers, and stakeholders to better strategize their resources and emphases.

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Abstract. Ubiquitous computing (UC) environments have triggered a strong research interest in privacy. How can people remain private when the infrastructure and objects around them begin to talk? Heading for an answer to this question many studies have rushed over past years to present guidelines for privacy-friendly UC design and have tempted even to rewrite the vocabulary of this socio-psychological construct. In doing so, most authors notice though that when it comes to requirements specification for privacy in UC, user-friendly technology design is really more about perceived control than it actually is about the end state of privacy itself. The current position statement therefore attempts to pull the two constructs –privacy and control- apart by theoretically reflecting on their mutual dependencies. It then proceeds by proposing a scale for appropriate measurement of perceived control in UC environments. 1

One result of the increasing sophistication and complexity of MIS theory and research is the number of studies hypothesizing and testing for 1 V. Sambamurthy was the accepting senior editor for this paper. Carte & Russell/Moderation Errors RESEARCH ESSAY moderation effects. A review of the MIS and broader management literatures suggests researchers investigating moderated relationships often commit one or more errors falling into three broad categories: inappropriate use or interpretation of statistics, misalignment of research design with phenomena of interest, and measurement or scaling issues. Examples of nine common errors are presented. Commission of these errors is expected to yield literatures characterized by mixed results at best, and thoroughly erroneous results at worse. Procedures representing examples of best practice and reporting guidelines are provided to help MIS investigators avoid or minimize these errors.

This paper uses the original Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and its extension models to explain the factors affecting the use of the mobile Internet services in Korea. Based on data collected from a questionnaire survey, we show that social influence and self-efficacy variables significantly affect perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use, respectively. The data also reveal that both perceived usefulness and ease of use explain a significant percentage of the variations in the attitude toward using the mobile Internet, which in turn influences the actual usage frequency.

Abstract. Robots have entered our domestic lives, but yet, little is known about their impact on the home. This paper takes steps towards addressing this omission, by reporting results from an empirical study of iRobot’s Roomba™, a vacuuming robot. Our findings suggest that, by developing intimacy to the robot, our participants were able to derive increased pleasure from cleaning, and expended effort to fit Roomba into their homes, and shared it with others. These findings lead us to propose four design implications that we argue could increase people’s enthusiasm for smart home technologies.